PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island needs to contribute $60.7 million toward non-pension retiree benefits, primarily health insurance, in the budget year starting in July 2017, the state's actuary said Friday.

That FY2018 contribution was approved Friday by the Other Post Employment Benefit Board, the panel that oversees health insurance liabilities for retired state employees, teachers, judges and state police officers.

The annual contribution rates are based on the state's financial position last June and benefited from strong investment returns over the prior 24 months, according to a report from actuary Gabriel Roeder Smith & Co.

The OPEB trust fund assumes a 5-percent annual investment rate of return and made 9.2 percent in 2014, then 7.8 percent in 2015, the report said.

Utilization of health care by retirees also came in below prior estimates, according to the report.

The state is currently working to pay down a $647-million unfunded OPEB liability, $531 million of that unfunded liability is for state employees, whose benefits are now only 15 percent funded.